Penguins' losing streak reaches 4 after falling to Devils

Bryan Rust knows what it takes to win.

The pair of Stanley Cup rings the Pittsburgh Penguins forward possesses validates that postulate.

He also knows what it takes to lose.

The unappetizing three-game losing streak the Penguins carried into Friday is evidence of that.

Entering Friday’s home contest against the New Jersey Devils at PPG Paints Arena, Rust and his teammates knew what was needed to enact a course correction.

“It’s impossible to bring (the same) game every night for the course of an 82-game season,” Rust said. “When you do get off your game, you limit it to one, maybe two games. That’s what the good teams do. They’re off for one night then they’re back on for a stretch. That’s what we’ve got to get focused on, that’s what we’ve got to get better at.”

On Friday, the Penguins were better than they have been as of late but they still lost 4-2, suffering their fifth defeat in the past six games.

There were signs of improvement.

For instance, they didn’t allow the opposition to accumulate more than 40 shots as was the case in their two most recent games, a 5-1 road loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday (42) and a 5-4 overtime setback at home to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday (46).

On Friday, they limited to Devils to a lean 28 shots and were fairly stout when it came to five-on-five play.

“I liked our game better than the games right after the (Christmas) break, that’s for sure,” Penguins defenseman Jan Rutta said. “So, at least we’re trending, I think, the right direction. But still, I think there were plays or gaps during the game when I think we don’t play to our strengths. That’s costing us.”

Special teams cost the Penguins – severely – in Friday’s defeat.

Referees Peter MacDougall and Garrett Rank were busy as they doled out a total of 14 separate penalties, including eight to the Devils.

Despite having an octet of power-play opportunities, the Penguins saw only one goal get scored with all that time on the man advantage.

And it was registered by the Devils’ penalty killers.

The visitors didn’t exactly set any power-play records either, but they were able to convert one of their seven chances.

“We didn’t manage to settle it down and kind of go into our set plays or looks. They did a good job of putting a lot of pressure on us,” Penguins forward Rickard Rakell said. “The chances were still there, but we didn’t manage to (convert). … It started to get a little frustrating when it doesn’t go your way and you lose your confidence. When you’re a confident power play, it seems to go in any kind of way. When the frustration keeps creeping in, it feels like a brick wall back there.”

Defense led to offense for the Penguins when they opened the scoring 14:26 into regulation. Controlling a puck at the right point of the offensive zone, Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton allowed Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin to pick his pocket and generate a breakaway. Surging up ice from his own blue line, Malkin attacked the Devils’ cage and upon arrival, he elevated a wrister over the glove of goaltender Vitek Vanecek for his 12th goal of the season. There were no assists.

Hamilton appeared to make amends for his faux pas when he scored an apparent goal at 3:21 of the second period, but officials immediately nullified the goal as they ruled Devils forward Erik Haula interfered with goaltender Tristan Jarry. Just as Hamilton wired a wrister from the right circle of the offensive zone over Jarry’s glove on the near side, Haula cut in front of the crease, bumping Jarry’s blocker with his left knee. The Devils issued a coach’s challenge to the ruling, but a review confirmed the call and led to a delay of game penalty for the visitors.

The Devils did score a legal goal on a power-play opportunity at 6:18 of the second period. Controlling the puck at the right point of the Penguins’ zone, Hamilton slid it to forward Jack Hughes moving up the left wing. From just inside the left dot, Hughes sizzled a wrister over Jarry’s right shoulder on the near side for his 19th goal. Hamilton and forward Jesper Bratt had assists.

Rookie defenseman P.O Joseph helped restore the Penguins’ lead with an alert maneuver as a power-play chance expired midway through the second period.

After Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler was hobbled by blocking a one-timer from Malkin off the right wall of the New Jersey zone, the Devils cleared the puck to the neutral zone. Before Siegenthaler could make his way to the visiting bench on the far end of the ice, Rakell dove at the center red line to deal the puck to Joseph, who made a daring dash into the offensive zone against four Devils defenders. While Joseph did lose possession in the slot, the puck slid to the right circle, where Penguins forward Jeff Carter claimed possession and attempted a backhand shot that was deflected into the cage at the 12:30 mark. Carter was credited with his sixth goal off assists from Joseph and Rakell.

The Devils persisted and claimed their first lead in the late stages of the second period.

A goal by Hamilton at the 17:37 mark tied the game again, 2-2. Corralling a bouncing puck at the left point of the offensive zone, Siegenthaler golfed a one-timer toward the cage. The puck hit the stick blade of Devils forward Dawson Mercer and then was batted down by the right hand of Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Mercer settled the rebound in the left circle and fed a short-area pass to the right circle for Hamilton, who snapped a quick wrister past Jarry’s left leg on the near side for his eighth goal. Assists went to Mercer and Siegenthaler.

Devils forward Nico Hischier put his team in front with a short-handed score at the 19:22 mark. After Malkin had a one-timer from above the left circle of New Jersey’s zone blocked by Devils defenseman Brendan Smith, the rebound was settled in the right circle by Devils forward Michael McLeod, who initiated a two-on-two rush with Hischier against Malkin and Joseph. Near the center red line, McLeod fed a simple forehand pass to Hischier, who sprinted up the right wing into the Penguins’ zone, motored by a sluggish Malkin and attacked. From the right circle, Hischier flipped the puck from his backhand to his forehand and fired a far-side wrister that toasted Jarry’s blocker for his 15th goal. McLeod and Smith netted assists.

The Penguins had a wonderful opportunity to forge another tie or even a lead at 9:02 of the third period when Haula was called for high-sticking Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin. The infraction drew blood, resulting in a double minor.

Despite four minutes of power-play time, the only thing the Penguins seemed to generate was fatigue in the Devils’ defenders from clearing the puck so often. As it was, the Penguins recorded only three shots on six attempts while Haula sat in the visiting penalty box.

To be fair, the Penguins did not have their top defenseman, Kris Letang, available to work on the power play as he was sidelined due to an undisclosed injury. Defenseman Ty Smith, recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Wednesday, made his Penguins debut and was deployed with the top unit.

As it was, the 22-year-old Smith was second on the team in power-play shots on Friday with three. Rakell led the Penguins with four.

“Ty did a pretty good job,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “That’s not an easy position to throw a young guy in when he comes up and he’s quarterbacking our top power-play unit. For the most part, he did a pretty good job. He made good decisions with the puck. He delivered pucks down to the net when he had a (shooting) lane.”

Victory was secured at 19:55 of the third when Hughes scored his 20th goal on an empty net. Haula and Mercer tallied assists.

Jarry made 24 saves on 27 shots as his record tumbled to 15-5-4.

“Obviously, a loss is a loss, but I think it’s better than the previous two games,” Jarry said. “It’s trending in the right direction.

“We were doing the right things. We just didn’t get rewarded.”

Better. But not enough.

“Yeah, we’ve lost a couple of games,” Rutta said. “But we would not like to panic. There’s how many games (left in the season)? We know we can play better. We can get on a roll.

“It’s just a matter of time to get a little bit of that confidence back and keep building our game.”

Notes:

• With Letang as well as fellow right-handed defensemen Chad Ruhwedel (undisclosed) and Jeff Petry (suspected left arm) each sidelined due to injuries, the Penguins had to dress an irregular blue line of four left-handers (Dumoulin, Joseph, Pettersson and Smith) with two right-handers (Rutta and Mark Friedman).

For the most part, Dumoulin and Smith were deployed on the third pairing with Smith largely playing the right side.

“(Stinks) for (Dumoulin) or (Smith),” Rutta said. “I’ve played on the left side a couple of times. It’s no fun. Playing as a lefty on the right side (stinks) too. I think they did a good job.”

• In his Penguins debut, Smith logged 22:14 of ice time on 21 shifts. He actually had more power-play ice time (11:10) than even-strength ice time (11:04). He also registered four shots on six attempts.

• Smith became the 27th player in franchise history to wear No. 24. His predecessors:

Gary Swain, Rod Zaine, Tim Horton, Eddie Shack, Jean Guy Lagace, Larry Bignell (playoffs only), Mario Faubert, Don Awrey, Bob Paradise, Pat Hughes, Marc Chorney, Pat Graham, Rob Garner, Ted Bulley, Kevin McCarthy, Roger Belanger, Dwight Mathiasen, Troy Loney, Doug Brown, Ian Moran, Lyle Odelein, Kris Beech, Matt Cooke, Bobby Farnham, Cameron Gaunce, Dominik Kahun

• Smith became the fifth first-round pick by the Devils to play for the Penguins:

Useless Stat of the Night: Ty Smith can become the fifth first-round pick of the Devils/Rockies/Scouts franchise to play for the Penguins: pic.twitter.com/hwgBUhh8cA

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) December 30, 2022

• The Penguins’ penalty killers were fairly stout, going 6 for 7. That figure includes a denial of a lengthy five-on-three power-play opportunity that began only 26 seconds into the third period on mostly fresh ice.

During that sequence, which lasted 1:22, the quartet of forwards Teddy Blueger, Brock McGinn, Rutta and Jarry limited the Devils to three shots on three attempts.

• While there wasn’t an abudance of even-strength play given the penalties, the Penguins displayed some new looks on their bottom-two lines.

Blueger was promoted as third-line center while Carter was moved to the right wing of that line. Brock McGinn remained on the left wing.

As for the fourth line, Ryan Poehling was activated from injured reserve and served as center. Danton Heinen was moved from right wing on the third line to the fourth line. Kasperi Kapanen remained on the right wing.

Drew O’Connor, who scored his first goal of the season on Wednesday, was the team’s lone healthy scratch.

• Malkin (1,180 points) surpassed Sergei Fedorov (1,179) for 53rd place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

Malkin grew up a fan of Fedorov, a fellow Russian. The only native of that country with more career points as an NHLer is Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (1,452).

• Dumoulin appeared in his 500th career game.

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